Excessive Fridge voltage draw...

alta825 · 04-20-2016, 08:03 PM

OK, this spring I've been noticing that the fridge seems to be pulling more volts than normal, either that or I never noticed what the volt meter said while it was running the last yr or 2.

Here is what I have,,,
the Big Norcold fridge circa '02 that SMB installed
Deka 4D AGM battery - new as of Fall '14

Fridge cools down just fine and the noise is on par with what it always was. When I have my handy little 12V voltmeter plugged in to the socket it will go from 12.58 for ex... down to 10.50 while the fridge kicks in. Once it runs for a few mins it kicks off and then it goes right back up to the 12.58ish readings before the fridge ran.

Thoughts? poked around to make sure no loose plugs behind the fridge. Is it my fridge compressor or something getting tired? Like I said it is more than cold enough, usually only have it set on 1 or 2... Is my Battery getting tired? I try to keep it plugged into shore power when home, however this winter when it sat outside I only plugged it in form time to time - didn't want to leave it unattended out in the snow etc...

Will be installing a hard mounted Solar panel or 2 this spring too

**Gooseberry** · 04-20-2016, 09:56 PM

Ok I just had this issue that started on my Oregon trip and came to a head on Gooseberry Mesa. The house battery would show 12.7 when first stopped but within a hour was showing 12.2 and that's with a new agm. I purchased a 25 amp conditioner and it seemed to work in the yard. Now it a couple weeks ago and I'm on the Mesa in a storm and the battery is showing 11.2 after a day of no sun. I start the van and it goes back up but then dies. Seeing how it's now snowing big time hay why not chase down the issue. Well it ended up being the body ground from the battery and once I cleaned it and snugged it up it never went below 12.5 without starting the van the rest of the week. Reminds me I need to fix the solar controller

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alta825 · 04-20-2016, 10:02 PM

Where was the ground on your rig? My battery is under the pass side frame rail. Really don't want to drop it...

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**Gooseberry** · 04-20-2016, 10:23 PM

My bad connection was on the driver side rear wheel well. Make sure to check any bonding straps from the van body to the frame

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arctictraveller · 04-21-2016, 12:00 AM

[QUOTE=alta825;173850]OK, this spring I've been noticing that the fridge seems to be pulling more volts than normal, either that or I never noticed what the volt meter said while it was running the last yr or 2.

Loads are measured by amps. When a load is applied to your battery the current causes the voltage to drop, how much depends on the ampacity of the battery, resistance of the wire and connections, the state of charge and the amount of current. It's normal for your voltage to drop. If your seeing more voltage drop than in the past (with the same load and at the same starting voltage) its possible the reserve capacity of the battery has been reduced. This could be due to a battery getting older and sulfating, a charging system issue, a bad connection, low battery water or other isues. Make sure your battery is fully charged to a resting voltage of something like 12.7v. Then check the voltage drop again and see if it's close to what it has been in the past. If it's much higher, look for bad connections or suspect the battery getting old. Since yours is pretty new, I suspect it's not getting fully charged or your have a high resistance connection. The lower the state of charge, the more the voltage will drop.